Strategic Staffing Solutions leaving Penobscot Building for Fisher Building

Cindy Pasky's company to become Fisher Building's largest tenant at 57,400 square feet

Some Strategic Staffing operations to be in new space by end of the year

Lease brings Fisher Building to nearly 80 percent occupancy

Nadir Ali/The Platform LLC

Detroit-based Strategic Staffing Solutions is moving into the Fisher Building in the New Center area.

The Fisher Building's largest tenant is going to be Strategic Staffing Solutions.

Founder and CEO Cindy Pasky's company is moving its headquarters to take more than 57,400 square feet in the iconic New Center area tower owned by a joint venture that includes Detroit-based landlord and developer The Platform LLC.

Pasky said in a statement that while Strategic Staffing needed more space, there were other considerations in the decision.

"While the decision to move wasn't an easy one to make as downtown means a lot to us, we know this move is the right thing to do for our company, employees and consultants," she said. "The Fisher Building is located in a growing neighborhood, and it's more convenient for many of our employees and consultants, yet still conveniently near some of our oldest and most valuable customers."

Strategic Staffing's development and call center is expected to be complete on the sixth floor by the end of the year, while its corporate and branch offices are taking the 20th and 21st floors, with completion by the middle of next year.

The move is a blow for the historic 47-story Penobscot. Strategic Staffing is its second-largest tenant, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, behind the Wayne County Circuit Court, which takes 121,000 square feet.

Advocate Commercial Real Estate Advisors LLC in Southfield represented Strategic Staffing and the Royal Oak office of Chicago-based JLL represented the Fisher Building ownership in the lease deal. Oak Park-based PCI Industries Inc. is the general contractor.

Peter Cummings, executive chairman and CEO of The Platform, said the Strategic Staffing lease brings the Fisher Building to nearly 80 percent occupancy.

Strategic Staffing moved into the Penobscot more than 20 years ago. It takes 48,000 square feet on floors 25, 26 and 29, CoStar says, paying an estimated $18 to $21 per square foot per year. At the Fisher Building, rent is $20 per square foot, according to CoStar.

Strategic Staffing declined to release terms of the lease deal.

Crain's reported this summer that increasing demand for IT and business services employee jobs has triggered a hiring spree at Strategic Staffing, which employs at least 600 people downtown and another 600-800 depending on customer needs at various companies around the region and state.

The firm recorded $342 million in revenue last year, Executive Vice President Jeff Nelson told Crain's in June, up from $321 million in 2017. Two years ago, it spent $260,000 on new space in the Penobscot.

Four months ago, Nelson said the Penobscot was big enough to accommodate Strategic Staffing's growth.